Advice, emotion at anti-violence rally

Updated 10:44 pm, Thursday, December 20, 2012

Jamil Hood, dean of students and varsity basketball coach at Green Tech Charter School, center, prays with students dueing a community response to a recent shooting on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012, in Albany, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)

Jamil Hood, dean of students and varsity basketball coach at Green...

The 6-year-old daughter of Iquan Carter attends her father's vigil during a community response to his death on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012, in Albany, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)

The 6-year-old daughter of Iquan Carter attends her father's vigil...

The 6-year-old daughter of Iquan Carter attends her father's vigil during a community response to his death on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012, in Albany, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)

ALBANY — As they have so many times before, dozens of anti-violence protestors gathered on an Albany street corner Thursday night to remember another young man gunned down.

Iquan Carter, 23, was shot in broad daylight on the sidewalk between Second and Third streets Tuesday morning after he got into an argument with his killer. He staggered to a backyard on Ontario Street and was pronounced dead shortly after being rushed to Albany Medical Center Hospital.

SNUG members joined with city council members, local residents and the Green Tech Charter High School basketball program in what some said was the biggest turnout yet. The Green Tech students chanted "the violence has to stop, peace and love and not shot." In a nation that has intensely focused lately on assault rifles and school massacres, it was a reminder of the violence that has become almost routine in every American city.

Jamil Hood, Green Tech's dean of students, told the young men to stay disciplined and to choose education over violence. He said it was important for the next generation of young men to see the cost of choosing a life on the street.

"It gives these kids a social awareness, they'll make good choices," he said.

Across the street from the rally, a smaller group stood on the spot where Carter was shot and lit candles. They took sips from tall beer cans after pouring a bit on the spot where their friend died. Corie Terry left the SNUG group and pushed through the marijuana smoke hovering over the smaller crowd. She shouted at them to end the gangs, to stop killing each other.

"How many babies have you left out here for us to raise?" she yelled as a few stone-faced men stared her down. "Stop going to jail, we're tired of seeing you in jail."

Carter was trying to put his troubles behind him and move on to a better life, said Casandra Harden, his friend. She said he didn't deserve to be remembered as only a criminal and that he had a lot of people who loved him.

"He was an outgoing person, he always helped people out," she said.

No arrests have been made in the case.

The fatal shooting of Carter, who was paroled in September, was the second in the city in a little more than three months. On Sept. 13, Alex Duncan was shot and killed as the father of seven stood outside a barbershop with friends at 104 Ontario St.

Four men have been charged with murder and robbery in Duncan's death, which also occurred in West Hill, about two blocks from where Carter was killed.